A space for discussion about issues raised by the pervasiveness of the web.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Private Vs. Secret: Losing Control of Identities

“If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.I cannot agree with this statement because I feel like people should have the option to enjoy themselves the way they want to without having to worry about what others are thinking.Even if we weren’t heavily involved in the internet, all humans carry on different identities.Most of us act one way around friends, one way around family, and a totally different way while at work.There are things that my family knows that my friends don’t know. I think that is perfectly acceptable because family is forever whereas you can change friends at any time.In the same way, my friends and family know that I drink socially whereas I would rather keep that knowledge out of the work atmosphere.Information like that could potentially hinder me from getting a job.

I believe that things that are both private and secret require some knowledge to not be discovered by other people.However, privacy has some public aspects to it.The public part could be that you know I have a bank account.The private aspect is that you don’t know how much I have in the account or the pin.Secrets, on the other hand, are things that are in hiding that you should have absolutely no knowledge of.It could be something like a surprise birthday party or if you cheat on your partner.

At the end of the day, I think we should be able to control our private affairs even though there’s some public aspect to it.I think certain things should only be open if the person allows it to be open.That’s the whole point of privacy.If we lose control, then we no longer have privacy.

People do have the power to control what goes on the Internet about them, but no matter how in control we are there will always be things we can't control. Things like information that other people post or public records and information that can be accessed by anyone for free or legally purchased.